A call center is typically capable of receiving and/or originating telephone calls involving staff members, variously called “telephone service representatives (“TSRs”) or “agents.” The agents may converse with a party who has dialed a toll free “800” customer service number to receive customer service from the call center. Or, the party may have been called by the agent for various reasons. The call center may provide a variety of services other than customer service, such as: sales promotions, debt collection, providing information, etc. Thus, the agents may have to be knowledgeable about a variety of products and procedures.
The agent's knowledge and/or competency in a given area can be referred to as a “skill” The agent's skill may be used to determine whether the agent is able to process a pending call. For example, in a financial services context, an agent having knowledge of general banking aspects may be classified as having a different skill from an agent having knowledge of mortgage programs. An agent skilled in “banking” and “mortgages” may be able to handle either type of calls, and therefore may be more useful.
Ensuring an agent is proficient in a skill may require training the agent first in the skill area and then maintaining that proficiency by subsequent periodic training. For example, an agent may have to be first trained on the basics of the financial institution's mortgage program and require periodic training about recent policy or regulatory changes, modifications to the mortgage program, or new application procedures.
Training can be provided to the agents through a variety of mechanisms based on the particular context. However, in a call center with a large number of agents with different skills, managing agent training can be a difficult administrative task. New agents may require training from the “ground up” in a number of areas, whereas other agents may require more focused training, for example, to address a particular skill deficiency. Experienced agents may desire to develop skills in new areas. Agents may also have to be regularly trained to maintain compliance with certain regulations.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure herein is presented.